UNFINISHED BUSINESS?

On the first Christian missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas were thrown out of Antioch (in Pisidia), Iconium, and Lystra. As soon as possible, they went back into these three places to finish the job of starting these Christian churches (Acts 14:21). "They gave their disciples reassurances, and encouraged them to persevere in the faith with this instruction: 'We must undergo many trials if we are to enter into the reign of God.' In each church, they installed presbyters and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord" (Acts 14:22-23). To start a church, we must encourage the disciples to persevere in the faith while suffering many trials, and we must pray, fast, and install leaders for the church.

Is your parish church, Christian community, and family frequently encouraged to suffer redemptively? Are you praying and fasting as a community for your leaders and for new leaders in the Church throughout the world? If we shared our faith enough to merit persecution and suffering, the Church wouldn't be divided, weakened, and watered down. If, in our sufferings, we also prayed and fasted for the Church's leaders, we wouldn't be having a vocations crisis but an explosion of leadership and new life in the Church.

Evangelize, suffer, pray, fast, and see the Church as the Lord intended it to be.